Recent medical experience

On Friday night I was experiencing terrible pain in my left kidney. I've had kidney stones before but this was way beyond that. I called Dr. Hernandez and met him at the emergency ward of Country 2000 Hospital. A cat scan revealed two very large kidney stones the size of marbles. We called in a urologist who determined that these needed to be surgically removed as they were way to big to pass naturally and too high up in the kidney to reach by conventional methods with lasers and what not. I had the surgery on Monday night and am back home today. Total cost (hospital 4 nights, doctors, surgeons, meds, supplies) - $140,000 MXN. Sure glad it was not in the US.

Sorry about your medical need but happy you had a successful outcome. Hope you have an easy recovery. Take care.

Best wishes for a speedy recovery, CB!

I would really like to thank Dr. Hernandez as he took care of everything for me including going over the hospital bill to ensure there were no shenanigans. It really helps to have a local GP on your side to look after your interests, facilitate and translate when things like this happen.

As Ferret states..Try and find the primary composition of those boulders..Drink more beer and water and lay off tea. I have been thru the same routine 4 times over many years..Seems that we are stone formers or not..Good luck and have a beer..

Good ending to a bad situation.  Your positive attitude was/is a big plus in these unexpected medical traumas.
and

Best wishes for a speedy and comfortable recovery. You were wise to seek immediate medical intervention. Stay hydrated.

Hope to see you walking your dog along the lake shore again soon!

That’s an amazing price for the surgery and hospital. Sure hope you don’t have to go through that again!

Yes, I am taking it in for analysis tomorrow. There is definitely a difference in diet for the one type or other.

Ouch. All the best for a speedy recovery. Kudos to the Doc.

So how is our patient feeling?

Perfectly fine now. Thanks for asking.

Bob, did you get the lab results of the stone yet?

Not yet. They said next Friday. I'm hoping it didn't consist of rum & coke though......

Brace yourself! Booze and red meat. . .

Feel better soon!

Medical care here is excellent and fast. I have had multiple surgeries and no wait. Dr. visited 3 times a day when I was very ill, even on week ends. Imagine that !!

Totally agree on the private medical care. Not so sure about IMSS or Seguro Poplar as I don't subscribe to either systems.

Best to go private if you can afford it. A person needed a hernia repair and Seguro Poplar would do it but the patient had to go out and buy their own mesh for the surgery. Where do you get surgical mesh and what do you buy that is the appropriate size and sterile. ???

Yes, I shudder at the thought of having to go through one of the public systems with my recent experience. I was fortunate to be able to afford the private system and will be getting insurance in the near future.

One of the best decisions I've made re medical care was to cancel Part B of Medicare 14 years ago and put the funds in a "medical savings account".  If you do the math for 2 people, there has been enough saved to pay for all private medical care used including 2 surgeries with private doctors and hospitals and have a substantial amount left over.  Furthermore, I've had more positive results here than I did in the U.S..
I do carry SP as a backup for a long term medical disaster, but haven't used it as yet.  (Can't get private insurance anyway: pre-existing conditions)
I do understand why people keep on paying for Part B if there is some doubt in their minds about whether they might return to the U.S. for various reasons, so yes, YMMV on that one and rightly so.

If/when private insurance gets too expensive we would probably consider moving back to Canada. Hopefully that won't be for another 15 years or so. And who knows maybe the socialized system here will have improved by then.